Thursday, July 9, 2009

Macarons!

So, I jumped the gun on Bastille Day, turns out it's not till next week. This is after I spent the last two days toiling away making three different kinds of macarons. I swear, this cookie kick will be over as soon as I get destroyed by Parisian macarons. All of my shells came out pretty well- I think I'm getting better at this.

Ah, the pecan/ praline buttercream macarons. These are my favorite. The buttercream is hands-down, the most delicious frosting I've ever made. It's a mix of Swiss buttercream mixed with ground pecan caramel candy. I had to make the candy twice to get it right.

This is the hazelnut/blackberry buttercream macaron. The Swiss buttercream curdled a bit when I added the blackberry preserves, but despite the appearance, this cookie is PERFECT- the tartness of the preserves, the sweet creaminess of the buttercream, the crunchy, chewy, nuttiness of the shell. Sigh.

Here are the pistachio/dark chocolate ganache macarons. For these I used half ground pistachios and half almonds. The ganache is equal parts heavy cream and Trader Joe's "Pound Plus" Dark Chocolate. I didn't use the 75% Dark Chocolate because I prefer milk chocolate, but thought I'd make a compromise. I then whipped the hell out of the ganache. These are delicious, but too rich for me.

Oh, I'll wash the dishes.

I'm a 27 year old girl living in Chicago. I love cooking and France and baking and France and my dog that looks like a bear (and who is part French). These are the things that I do, and the things that I make, and the things that I like.